I would like to comment on the tone and content of the way in which the recent wave of Trade Union disputes have been covered by the local press. Your p.4 two page title ‘ A general strike our nation can ill afford’ December 6th clearly makes a statement about the paper’s conservative bias including as it does, backing comments from Daniel Kawczynski and Mark Pritchard. The article relies on two contentious and unsupportive ideas. Firstly this wave of strikes should be compared to and feared as a general strike or even The General Strike. It is generally expected that days lost in strikes will be less than 2million for the whole of 2022 compared with 162million for the year of the General Strike and 12million strike days lost in 1979 during ‘The Winter of Discontent’. The General Strike was 9 days of almost total shut down compared to strikes of limited days spread over a month which your article equates to a general strike,- so not quite as scary.
The second assertion that you and Tory politicians claim is that the country can’t afford it, but of course this is not true. The truth is politicians choose not to afford to pay nurses, ambulance workers etc even a below inflation pay increase because they choose not to tax the wealthy. Inheritance taxation, unearned incomes, higher rate pension relief could easily pay all public workers an inflation rate increase but they choose to say that the nation can’t afford it.
Patrick McCarthy
Telford and Wrekin Green Party Co-ordinator
58 King Street
Wellington
Telford TF1 1NR
Mob: 07986927282